BK 6: (Dec 4, 2018) Thrift: The History of an American Cultural Movement

Hi Everyone...

At our Dec 4th meeting we will discuss "Thrift: The History of an American Cultural Movement" by Andrew L. Yarrow (Dec 12, 2014).

With 161 reading pages it is approximately 5 pages per day.

Check out the Bio & Video below...

"In this lively and engaging book, Andrew L. Yarrow tells the story of a national movement that promoted an amalgam of values and practices ranging from self-control, money management, and efficiency to conservation, generosity, and planning for the future―all under the rubric of "thrift." Emerging in tandem and in tension with the first flowerings of consumer society, the thrift movement flourished during the 1910s and 1920s and then lingered on the outskirts of American culture from the Depression to the prosperous mid-twentieth century.

The movement brought together a diverse array of social actors with widely divergent agendas―the YMCA, the Boy and Girl Scouts, temperance crusaders, and others seeking to strengthen the moral fiber of urban young men and boys in particular, and to damp down the appeal of radicalism. It also attracted credit union and other progressive activists wanting to empower the working class economically, bankers desiring to broaden their customer base, conservationists and efficiency proponents denouncing "waste," and government leaders, school teachers, and economists who believed that encouraging saving was in the economic interests of both individuals and the nation.

A post–World War II culture that centered on spending and pleasure made the early-twentieth-century thrift messages seem outdated. Nonetheless, echoes of thrift can be found in currently popular ideas of "sustainability," "stewardship," and "simplicity" and in efforts to curtail public and private debt."


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This is what we discussed at the meeting...

*  History of why & when programs on Thrift began and who was all involved

* Types of Thrift Programs

* How Education was involved

* Children Penny banks (pics p 65)

* Boyscouts & Girl Scouts (pic p 66)

* Children's Thrift Accounts at Banks (pic p 67)

* Children's books (pic p 68)

* Music & Games (pic p 69)

* YMCA (pic p 70 & 73-74, 76-77)

* Religious support  (pic p 71-72)

* Ads on Thrift (pic p 75)

* Govt Thrift Card (pix p 78)

* Govt War Savings Stamps (pix p 79-80)

* National Thrift Week

* Business viewpoint controversial on economic concerns

* Thrift vs Conservation

* Share With Others Day

* 1926 National Thrift Conference in Philadelphia/4M children depositors in school savings banks in 10K cities & 8M elementary & secondary students studying Thrift in school.

* 1910 75 acres in Watchung NJ Coopertive Farm called Free Acres (James Cagney & Paul Robeson)

* Pictures between 114-115

* Thrift in other countries

* Ford higher pay & 5 day week

* 1930s more appliances

* Car production increase in the 1920s & GM letting people finance

* Many movie theaters by 1927

* Savings int he 1950s, 60s & 70s

* GI Bill

* Thrift Week disbanded in 1966

* Kennedy Tax cut in the 1960s

* New Deal and what was created with it

* Pictures between 144 & 145

* Status symbol of what you have

* Throw away America

* Poverty, saving for retirement, typical debt, & lottery

* Car sharing, Time Banking, Airbnb etc

* Exhaust Emissions, energy efficient homes & recycling